Stapleton

When I first heard the above read to me a few weeks back I found myself both amused and amazed. Something about the manner in which the delivery and lyrical delicacy blended left me thoroughly entertained and eager to hear more. What followed was the discovery of a talent that had thus far, had very scant airing and one of my first thoughts was that I somehow had to convince Stapleton to let me share some of his rhymes with a wider audience. A little time passed and then last week the opportunity to get my hands on a half decent HD camera for an afternoon arose so it seemed only right to try and get some of these articulate delights down on camera. Within the space of fifteen minutes in a subterranean car park we had a joyous selection of original, eloquent, charming and crafty rhymes that will undoubtedly brighten your day.

In typical Kollektivnye style, we also quizzed the man himself about the origins and inspirations of these cunning compositions in order get a little background on the matter, so what are you waiting for? Get tucked in!

Kollektivnye: How did you start and how long have you been writing these rhymes?

Stapleton: The first one that I did was while I was at Uni, so probably about four years ago now. I started writing them when I was horribly bored during Linguistics lectures, just to pass a bit of time and distance myself from the riveting world of syntax and morphology. The lecturer must have thought I was well into it! But I’ve been interested in poems and just writing rhymes down for a lot longer. I used to sit with a mate in secondary school and take it in turns to write a line each, following on from each other, trying to outdo each other by being as disgusting as possible. We were listening to the ‘Marshall Mathers LP’ at the time, so I suppose that explains it. Also, I remember my Mum sending off a poem I did at school to the British War Museum when i was 7 or 8 years old and getting a letter and some goodies back, which was exciting.

K: How would you describe them to someone? Are they poetry, spoken word, raps or something else?

S: It’s difficult to say. There are certain connotations (stigmas even) associated with each category. If you say you perform poetry, people immediately expect romanticism and pomposity. With rap, a lot of the time, people feel the need to establish certain credentials such as grittiness, toughness and whatever else. I’m not a musical person, so I’d say it’s not rap. There are no beats or anything incorporated with any of the pieces. I’m sure there could be, and it might even work, but I would have to rely on others to provide this sort of influence and then it wouldn’t be mine. I have friends (one in particular) that can produce a beat, write some lyrics and just rap over it pretty effortlessly.I’m not as versatile as that so I’d probably say my stuff is closest to spoken word.

K: Is ‘Filth Flarn Filth’ a reference to Eddie Murphy’s ‘Raw’ and if so how does that relate to the one night stand that is described?

S: Yeah it’s a reference to ‘Raw’. He uses the phrase in a hilarious bit in which he rips the piss out of Bill Cosby for questioning the graphic content of his show. I just thought that it was a good way to describe the stuff that you don’t want your parents hearing about (namely the sordid details of your sex life), for fear of mortifying them. That’s pretty much what that whole piece is about! Although my brother did play it in front of my Mum and Aunt the other day. Thumbs up apparently.

K: ‘The Curious Case of the Dog at Night time’ is inspired from a very real incident involving yourself and the old bill, can you give us a little perspective regarding that?

S: I basically got myself in a relatively minor situation that could have been dealt with easily if the policeman involved was interested in doing it that way. He wasn’t, and it escalated into something quite nasty, that resulted in a hospital visit for me at the hands of a mauling from a police dog. I felt pretty aggrieved about it, and the piece stemmed from that.

K: Are all of your pieces inspired by real-life events?

S: I think that a lot of them do, yeah. There are certain things that i talk about, such as nights out, one night stands or whatever that are definitely influenced by situations that i have been in, and that most people have, which is useful in terms of accessibility. For example, the no condom dilemma. I also think, however, that sometimes it’s fun to exaggerate things to create a more vivid story. It’s about balancing a fine line between creativity and authenticity.

K: Could they be considered social commentaries of a sort?

S: To a certain extent in that it’s impossible to really describe a contemporary situation without being informed at least slightly by the society that we live in. But it isn’t as if there’s some deep-seated political subtext beneath each piece. Some are more concerned with that sort of thing than others.

K: How does it feel to finally unleash these on the public after having some of them down for so long?

S: It feels good because it’s a nice outlet to express yourself. I was always quite shy about it and would just read these things to my friends, but it’s interesting to see what strangers think, people that aren’t obliged to be nice to you! It’s a bit nervewracking as well though, for the same reason.

K: Have you written any new ones recently that you could tell us a little about?

S: Unfortunately I lost a couple of pieces that I’d been writing quite recently, when my laptop decided to develop amnesia. But there are more that I have written down, and I definitely intend to try to get going with a few more ideas soon

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